I always tell the truth.

"I always tell the truth: not the whole truth because we never manage to tell the whole truth. To tell the whole truth, that is impossible, materialistically, words fail us. Exactly because of this impossible, the truth hangs on the real."

The real, that is the impossible because we cannot say it. Therefore, only what is real is not true because only what can be said can be the truth.

For example, it is said that Herr H. is a liar. That is true. Herr H. also thinks that he is a liar because he always tells the truth. Herr H. cultivates this attitude. Herr H. wants to be a rogue – and he wants to be a rogue because he would not only like to be a sportsman but also an intellectual. Herr H. knows that there are left-wing and right-wing intellectuals. He has also heard that the left-wing intellectuals are court jesters and the right-wing intellectuals are rogues. Herr H. does not want to be a court jester because he feels at home with the rogues and he does not want to be smirked at. Therefore, Herr H. is a rogue and a liar who always tells the truth.

It is also said the Herr S. is a liar. That is true. Herr S., however, does not think that he is a liar. Herr S. defends himself against this view. Herr S., in contrast to Herr H., does not want to be a rogue because he also does not want to be an intellectual. Primarily, Herr S. wants to be happy. A happy sportsman and a happy musician. However, no-one believes Herr S. and they say that it is his bow-tie. That is not true, says Herr S. happily.

Both Herr H. and Herr S. always tell the truth. Not the whole truth because we never manage to tell the whole truth. To tell the whole truth, that is impossible, materialistically, words fail us. Exactly because of this impossible, the truth hangs on the real. There in the real there is no saying and therefore also no truth and at its edges at most silence is acceptable. These remains have no expression, this other has no others which it could represent so that there is also no meta-language. If it existed, where would it lead us?

Herr H., who wants to be an intellectual, has not understood that. Herr H. believes that it is possible to tell the whole truth. Because Herr H. believes in the whole truth and believes that it is whole. Therefore, he also always wants to have everything. Herr H. is everybody who is as whole as he is and who is wholly like him. Herr H. wants all of them always to tell the whole truth and, as all of them and for all of them, he must always tell the whole truth. These are all the little others who he loves. The big other ones, who are totally different, these he does not love. The little others, who Herr H. loves, are not however all equal. Therefore, Herr H. must change his clothes so often. Then, in each set of clothes, Herr H. tells the little others the truth – and because the clothes are always a little bit different, the truths are also always a little bit different. But Herr H. is in each form Herr H. because Herr H. also believes that he is Herr H. Therefore Herr H. is not split between Herr H. the meaning and Herr H. the statement. Just because of this, he always tells the truth because he cannot deceive. Therefore Herr H. does not have available the truth of deception, because he dismisses what the completely different ones say. Herr H. can therefore not make a slip of the tongue, which however does not prevent him from continually making slips of the tongue.

Herr S., who does not want to be an intellectual, but just happy, does believe that it is impossible to tell the whole truth. Herr S. therefore does not also believe in the whole truth and does not believe that he is everyone. In this sense, Herr S. is more humble. Therefore, Herr S. only seldom changes his clothes. However, Herr S also believes himself to be smaller than Herr H. but believes that he is happier than Herr H. Herr S. believes that Herr H. is just pretending to be happy. Herr S. therefore thinks that Herr H. lacks something. Herr S. has got what Herr H. lacks, since he really is happy. From this point of view Herr S is the symptom of Herr H. Herr S. also does not believe that he is Herr S. Herr S. knows that he is only called Herr S. and is therefore split between Herr S. the meaning and Herr S. the statement. Therefore, Herr S. can deceive and also tells the truth in the form: I am deceiving you.

However, one should not be deceived and believe that this is a super-truth. It is only another, a second truth, coming from the words of others. Because: "Whoever remains silent with his lips, chatters with his fingertips. Betrayal leaks out of every pore."

August Ruhs (with the assistance of S. Freud and J. Lacan),
Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst,

Vienna, May 2K